Injustice For All
"Injustice For All" is the 18th and 19th episodes of . It first aired on September 6 and 13, 2002. Plot Part I Lex Luthor's criminal activities are finally exposed in a sting by the Justice League, when Luthor lords it over a Superman rendered helpless by Kryptonite, who turns out to be J'onn J'onzz in disguise, with Batman and Green Lantern recording the conversation. Luthor flees the LexCorp tower in a personal aircraft. Superman flies after him, but Luthor has an unexpected seizure, and Superman must act quickly to keep him from crashing. Luthor awakens in a hospital bed. Superman and a doctor inform him that he is suffering from an incurable form of blood cancer caused by long-term exposure to the Kryptonite's radiation. Luthor loses interest in defending his case, and so is sent to prison. He convinces the Ultra-Humanite, who occupies the next cell next to his, to help him escape in exchange for a large sum of money. Once free, he summons a group of other super-criminals: Cheetah, Copperhead, The Shade, Solomon Grundy, and Star Sapphire, for one purpose: to destroy the League. In their first attack, they lure the Justice League into a trap, but quickly find that the League is too well-organized for them to overcome. Both sides suffer one casualty: Batman is wounded by Copperhead's venom, while Copperhead is taken captive. While Luthor is ranting about the Gang's failure, the Joker appears. Luthor orders him out, but the Joker says they need him, as he is the one who knows Batman best – to demonstrate, he plucks a bat-shaped homing device off Luthor. Refusing to rest after being cured of the venom for fear of being considered the weakest amongst a team of super-powered beings, Batman follows the signal to the Gang's hideout, but is ambushed and knocked out. Part II Batman first appears encased in full-body titanium restraints, and a stasis field shielding him from J'onn's telepathy. With various members of the Gang taking turns to guard him, Luthor takes his utility belt to his lab. Superman and the Flash interrogate Copperhead in jail. He refuses to talk, and when Superman physically threatens him, he mocks him by calling him a boy scout and comparing him to a school bully. As Copperhead is taken back to his cell, having revealed nothing, Superman wonders aloud, "How does Batman do it?" In his cell, Batman works his magic on Cheetah, his current guard. He listens with sympathy to her story of how she was forced to use her experimental genetic techniques on herself, and, feeling a rush of attraction, she kisses him. Luthor manages to disable the anti-theft devices in the utility belt, and finds a remote control for entry into the Watchtower. Shade, Sapphire, and Grundy infiltrate the tower, knock out J'onn, and plant a bomb. On Earth, Luthor has another seizure. Afraid that he won't live long enough even to see his revenge, he asks for help. Humanite agrees, for an extra fee. The League returns to the Tower. While they are ministering to J'onn, someone telephones the Tower and warns them about the bomb. Conducting a hurried search, they manage to find it and Flash throws it into space seconds before it explodes. Seeing his plan has failed, Luthor takes out his anger on the Gang, who decide to quit. He only manages to keep them around by offering to triple their pay. In the cell, the Joker, who is guarding Batman, is also disappointed to see the plot has failed. But he decides to disobey Luthor's orders and kill Batman anyway. Fortunately, Grundy arrives and forces the Joker away. Batman thanks him and asks for a glass of water. Grundy gives it to him, and Batman spits it into the stasis field devise and causing short circuit. Immediately, J'onn knows where he is. In another part of the hideout, Humanite devises a treatment that temporarily stabilizes Luthor's condition, which involves encasing his chest in a containment suit. Grundy comes running to tell him that the League is on their way. Before preparing their last ambush, Luthor says they need to expose the traitor who tipped off the League. He checks the surveillance videos and sees Cheetah kissing Batman. Grundy drags her away, even as she screams that she's innocent. The League enters the hideout and attacks. They seem to be winning, but Luthor appears in an armored battlesuit that harnesses the kryptonite radiation his body has absorbed. He is about to use it to kill Superman, but Humanite disables him, and surrenders, revealing himself to be the traitor. The Joker decides to run, but not before finishing Batman off. He runs back to the cell, and finds that Batman has already freed himself from the restraints. "I could have escaped at any time," he explains, knocking out the Joker. As Luthor and the Gang are taken into custody, Humanite asks Batman "you'll keep our bargain?" Batman agrees – "double what Luthor was paying." It seems that he suborned Humanite while he was being guarded. Back in Stryker's Island, Luthor pounds on the wall of his cell, yelling that Humanite will pay for his treachery. Humanite, who is watching an opera program on public broadcasting, serenely ignores him. The program concludes, "this program was made possible by a grant from the Ultra-Humanite, and viewers like you." Continuity * This marks the temporary end of Luthor's career as a "legitimate" businessman, after which he is either a prisoner or a fugitive from justice. He is pardoned in "A Better World", but indicted once again in , "Divided We Fall", after which he joins the Legion of Doom as a criminal mastermind. * During Luthor's confession to "Superman", he mentioned "Stavros" (from , "Fire From Olympus") accepting a bribe while working for a shipping company. This may indicate that Lex Luthor may have had some involvement with Maxie Zeus's rise to power, since Stavros worked for Maximillian Shipping Lines and was planning on talking to James Gordon when Maxie used his weapon on him. * The harmful effects of Kryptonite on humans were first referenced in the episode "World's Finest", when it is revealed that all the multiple owners of the Laughing Dragon statue died prematurely and after running tests, Batman reveals that Kryptonite gives off low-level radiation. * Luthor's disdain towards Joker is likely explained by their first encounter in "World's Finest" * Although Luthor's condition is stabilized, he continues to wear the chest plate designed by Humanite in subsequent episodes of , and his cancer is not finally cured until "Question Authority" (in the later episode "Divided We Fall" it is revealed that Brainiac cured him). * Shade refers to his participation in this Injustice Gang in both "Fury" and "Secret Society". In the case of "Fury", this led to some confusion, because that episode was produced after, but aired before, this one. Background Information Production Inconsistencies * The chunk of kryptonite changes size between shots. At first, Luthor can keep it in his hand, but when Batman gets it, it's small enough to fit in a (considerably smaller) pouch pocket. * The sign of the facade of the Metropolis Federal building is misspelled "Fedral". * In the Watchtower, an animation error causes Hawkgirl to have two left wings for a brief period of time. Though she moves, her wing is "split" into one that moves along with her body, and one that stays in its original spot. * Although Cheetah is dragged away to be executed, she is seen imprisoned in the van along with the rest of the Gang after they are taken into custody, and appears in future episodes of and . How she escaped is not explained on-screen. However, Bruce Timm explained that Cheetah was in fact suppposed to be killed off, and was merely "spared" due to an animation/continuity error. * Likewise, Copperhead is also shown in the van in the last scene, despite having already been captured in Part I. Trivia * First appearance of Ultra-Humanite and Cheetah. * First appearances of the Joker and Lex Luthor on . *During the final battle between the Justice League and Injustice Gang, Hawkgirl can be seen crashing into statues of the Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna. A DCAU version of the Wonder Twins appears in the JLU episode Ultimen. * In order of production, this is the first appearance of Copperhead, Solomon Grundy, Shade, and Star Sapphire, but they also appeared in the episode "Fury", which was aired first. * Luthor says, "Et tu, Humanite?". This is a reference to the famous line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, spoken by Caesar to Brutus, whom he realizes has betrayed him. * Joker's last words to Batman before falling unconscious are "You're dethspicable!" a la Daffy Duck. * Luthor's Kryptonite poisoning was a major story arc in the comics, received as a result of wearing a chip of Kryptonite on a ring for several years. Luthor avoided dying by transferring his brain into a stronger, younger clone of himself (with a full head of hair). However, his clone body aged prematurely, forcing Luthor to sell his soul in order to avoid becoming a permanent cripple. * Luthor's battlesuit is also based directly on one made famous in the comics. * During Batman and Joker's final fight, a slowed down version of the theme plays. * Near the end of the episode, when the villains are being led into the police truck, Joker is the only villain who cannot be seen. This could be because Joker would be sent to Arkham Asylum, and not a prison. * Luthor's tactic of weakening Superman with a chunk of Kryptonite, fleeing in an airship when confronted by reinforcements and having an accident was previously used in the Superman: The Animated Series episode, "Brave New Metropolis", the only difference being that that specific Luthor was from an alternate dimension and crashed into a monument and was killed. * Copperhead calling Superman "Boy Scout" is a likely reference to Superman always being known as the boy scout in mainstream comics. On the episode "Clash", it seems he's taken to being called that and is upset and Captain Marvel is apparently the new one. * In Mainstream Comics, Cheetah is normally portrayed as having thick, long hair, which has a tendency to cover part of her face for certain "poses". As a possible reference to that, the wig Cheetah wears to seem like Ultra-Humanite's hostage gives her virtually the same appearance just before she scratches Batman. Cast Quotes Footnotes Category: Justice League episodes